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Monday, January 11, 2016

Let's Talk Cheese...Grilled Cheese that is!

So, cheese is probably one of my favorite foods, although my favorite would probably be salads. But, that doesn't really count since technically a salad is multiple foods.

In order of preference, these are my top 3 favorite cheeses...
1- Blue cheese
2- Swiss cheese
3- Gruyere cheese

Although...recently I have come to love humboldt fog cheese, so right now I think it would be in a tie for #2. Gruyere cheese is also fairly new for me. I first used it a couple years ago when I made Pioneer Woman's French Onion soup, that she tops with Gruyere cheese! (I substitute vegetable broth when I make this soup in order to make it vegetarian.)

So, a few weekends ago, I was grabbing dinner at Kroger with my girls. They wanted chicken, etc. (as all kids would), but I decided I'd pick myself up some Gruyere and try to make a grilled cheese sandwich with it for myself.

Ingredients:
Gruyere cheese
tomato
avacado
wheat bread (I wanted to use rye, but we were out)

Start by slicing the Gruyere super thin. I was planning on two layers of cheese (1 on each side of the bread, so I wanted it really really thin).

Slice the avocado and tomato as well. It's best to have everything prepped before starting. While I was cutting, I already had my pan warming on the stove.

I find it works best if the pan warms for ~5~10 minutes, this keeps the bread from sticking. The next few steps have to be done quick because you will need to be ready to flip the sandwich soon in order to avoid it burning. I buttered one side of both pieces of bread before starting, then just built the sandwich in the pan.

And ta-da...a delicious grilled cheese!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Preparing for Christmas!

Two days before Christmas I planned a couple fun things for my girls. I got up a little early (who am I kidding, I'm always up early) and wrote out some clues for a Nativity scavenger hunt! We just used their Little People Nativity (one of my favorites!).

Then I hid all the characters according to the clues.

Next, I just set the clues in a bowl next to the stable.

When the girls got up, we mixed up some cookie dough and cut out sugar cookies.

And while the cookies were cooling, they did the scavenger hunt. They took turns reading the clues, finding the character and bringing it back to put in the Nativity!